


I Can’t Let You Go

by Hcterror



Category: Power Rangers Time Force
Genre: Alternate Universe, Co-workers, Co-workers to lovers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, First Love, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, NASCAR, crew - Freeform, katie is trip's best friend and a total badass, lucas is a nascar racer, no rangers, trip is a mechanical engineer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-03-30
Packaged: 2019-12-26 23:51:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18292676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hcterror/pseuds/Hcterror
Summary: AU in which the Power Rangers don't exist and Lucas and Trip are just guys who belong to the same Nascar racing crew and whom fate has thrown together.





	I Can’t Let You Go

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've been rewatching Power Rangers: Time Force for some reason I don't even know and right on the first episode the flame of this old ship reignited upon me and I just /had/ to write something for them, seeing as when I looked for fics I found almost nothing. I mean, I know probably no one will read this, but I had to do it.

**I Can’t Let You Go**

 

Lucas Kendall is a well-known Nascar Racing pilot, his team was considered the best at the recent times and he had won many races and prizes with their help. Despite being thankful for that, he was not exactly the ray of sunshine that he always portrayed whenever there was a camera around broadcasting his actions, no, he could sometimes be quite an unpleasant person to be around. His crewmates would know, seeing as they were often on the other end of his rage.

 

Trip Regis was a mechanical engineer, and also part of Lucas’ crew. He was a green-haired childish guy that was always polite and friendly, and also had a heart of gold. Trip was the only one that could stand being around Lucas even when he was being difficult. It made them an odd pair, seeing how contrasting their personalities were.

 

The truth about Lucas was that even though he was always mean spirited and moody on the outside, he actually had a good side, one Trip had seen glimpses of in some rare occasions, like that one time when his laptop had broken and Trip fixed it for him.

 

_“Come on! Just fucking turn on!” Trip was about to leave for the day when he heard Lucas yelling. To be honest, Lucas yelling was nothing new, but still he decided to check on him just in case._

 

_When he entered the room, Lucas was glaring adamantly at his laptop’s screen, slapping and cussing at it as he kept pressing the power button to try and get it to work. The sight was almost funny, if it wasn’t for the fact that Trip knew that if he didn’t do anything Lucas would end up throwing the device at the nearest wall in a burst of rage, so he decided to ask._

_“What is wrong?”_

_Lucas was startled at first. He thought he was the last one there and that everyone else had already gone home. He didn’t expect that Trip had stayed behind, for whatever reason, so he was really surprised to see him there._

_“This thing just doesn’t want to work.”_

_His voice raised an octave by the end of the sentence and he huffed audibly, making his rage even more noticeable, as well as his frustration. Lucas had never been good with dealing with those specific emotions._

_“Can I take a look?” Lucas was so self-absorbed that he didn’t even notice Trip approaching him. He didn’t verbally respond, and just huffed as he stepped back, pointing at the electronic device with his chin._

_As Lucas settled back, leaning against one of the crew’s worktables, he watched Trip start tinkering with his laptop. As he observed him, Lucas couldn’t help but think. Trip had been the first one to join his crew, a few years back. A literal ray of sunshine, excited to be part of something and full of ideas._

_At first Lucas didn’t like him. Trip was that kind of person that was always smiling and in a good mood. That bothered him, for some reason, but he eventually warmed up to the guy. It was impossible to stay around Trip for so long and not like him. He was so genuinely nice and sincere. A bit childish and naïve at times, but that only made him endearing._

_Thinking about that made Lucas tap into that section of his heart he always so vehemently kept hidden from the world. Somewhere along the line he had fallen for Trip, but being who he was, Lucas never acted on his feelings and would rather pretend they weren’t there every time he looked at Trip and had to fight of a smile in order to stay in character._

_Being lost in his own mind, Lucas didn’t notice he had been smiling fondly as he stared at nothing, and so he jumped up, startled, when Trip called his name, making him direct his attention back to the present._

_Trip was smiling at him, bubbling with excitement as he pointed at the laptop’s screen. His lockscreen stared back at Lucas, making his eyes slightly widen as he pushed himself off of the table he was leaning against and walked towards the device, touching the laptop as soon as he got there._

_“How did you make it work?”_

_Lucas’ eyes were now on Trip, full of concealed awe, but also renewed respect. He kept shifting his gaze from the now fixed laptop to Trip’s face, and then back._

_“Your HD catheter was dislodged. I just put it in its place.”_

_That was another thing that Lucas liked about Trip, he was always genuinely humble no matter what he did. It made Lucas smiled without thinking, and he brought one of his hands up to Trip’s hair, ruffling the soft locks gently. Then he just grabbed the laptop and left the room, throwing a “thanks” at Trip._

“Earth to Trip!”

 

Katie Walker is Trip’s best friend, and sometimes she comes pick him up from work, only to find him lost in thoughts, like right now, as she snapped her fingers in front of his face to get his attention.

 

“Katie!” Trip immediately smiled, throwing his around her for a welcoming hug. It almost made it seem like he hadn’t seen her in ages, even though Katie had been the one to drive him to work in the morning. “When did you get here?”

 

Katie rolled her eyes at Trip. She had been trying to snap him out of whatever place his mind was in for a few minutes already, and still he acted like he hadn’t being dreaming with his eyes open for this whole time.

 

“What were you dreaming on about?”

 

As if on cue, Lucas walked into the room. He and Katie were not friends, but they shared a mutual understanding and level of respect, so she nodded back at him when he did the gesture as a form of greeting.

 

Trip, as per usual, only sighed silently as he watched Lucas’ retreating back, making Katie roll her eyes at him once again. This… _thing_ had been going on for a while. Whenever Lucas was not paying attention, Trip would look at him full of adoration and heart-eyes. It was obvious that he was harbouring a crush for Lucas. Katie had seen this exact same expression on his face far too many times in the past couple of years.

 

“When are you gonna ask him out?” She asked, her voice hardening, so that Trip wouldn’t try to laugh his way out of responding her question. It was another thing Katie had seen him do far too many times, whenever Lucas was the subject of the conversation.

 

“I don’t think he likes me.”

 

Katie had to groan out loud in frustration. She had never met anyone denser than Trip when it came to relationships. She may not come down to the garage all that often, but even she had caught up on the fact that Trip was the only one who received special treatment from Lucas.

 

While everyone else got lectured constantly, the most Lucas would give Trip was a head shake and then direct his rage to someone else. It was pretty obvious that there was something there.

 

“Just talk to him.”

 

Lucas re-emerged back into the room at that moment to grab his wallet, and he was about to leave again when Trip called to him, making him stop on his tracks and turn back to look at the pair. “Hm?”

 

As if bustling with courage, Trip walked over to Lucas, smile in place as usual. He gently put his hand upon Lucas’ shoulder and leaned in towards him. “Do you want to go out with me?”

 

Lucas could tell that Trip was excited about something, but he thought it was work related. Probably just some new thing he had thought up that could improve his racing car and make Lucas’ road to victory even easier, so he was pretty startled when he heard those words coming off of Trip’s mouth.

 

“What the fuck?”

 

He had not meant to be rude at first, but being caught off guard coupled with the fact that Katie was there and this could somehow get out and ruin his reputation as a racer made him act like that.

 

When Lucas’ gaze was set on Trip again, it was full of coldness.

 

“Just because you are part of my crew doesn’t mean you can go around asking me out. Get something through that thick skull of yours. We are not even friends.”

 

Internally Lucas screaming and punching himself. Saying those things to Trip had hurt him as much as it apparently hurt Trip, seeing as he all but dashed from the room, his face full of hurt and confusion. It made Lucas’ heart churn, and he audibly sucked in a breath.

 

Not even a full second had passed and Katie was already up in his personal space. She was glaring heavily at Lucas, eyes full of accusation, piercing him like daggers.

 

“What is wrong with you?!” She asked, so close to just pushing Lucas, as she pointed at the door Trip had just walked past, though that didn’t have the desired effect for her, it only made Lucas get angry and turn into even more of an asshole.

 

“I’m not a fairy,” he said, and even though his voice was incredibly low and weak, Katie couldn’t let him walk away unscathed after that. Without thinking about the consequence of her actions, she punched Lucas in the face with all her strength, leaving him with a black eye.

 

“You’re disgusting.”

 

Katie immediately left after that, calling on to Trip as she tried to catch up with him.

 

Lost on what to do, Lucas just let himself lean back against the wall and slide down its surface. He sat down with his face in his hands, completely ignoring the stinging pain in his eye. His heart was aching much more than that, so much he barely even registered the copious tears streaming down his face.

 

**-x-**

On the next day Lucas was even more enraged than usual, and since Trip wasn’t around to calm him down, no one dared to ask him about the black way he was sporting, they just went about with their routine, keeping to themselves. It didn’t help all that much.

 

**-x-**

When it was time for Lucas to do a few laps with the car for practice, he kept thinking about everything that had happened on the previous day, which only made him feel even angrier, though his rage was only directed at himself this time around.

 

Because he was distracted with his on thoughts, Lucas kept getting mediocre times in his laps. His performance was so bad that he eventually gave up. He got off of the car and slammed the door shut. He quickly took off his helmet and roughly smashed it into the ground, throwing the protection gear with all his strength.

 

Turning around to kick at the side of the car, he fished his phone from his pocket, trying to call Trip for the hundredth time just that day, but just like all the other times, no one picked up on the other end.

 

How badly had he screwed up this time?

 

**-x-**

Trip didn’t come back to the garage until two days later. He brought Katie in tow to act as a shield between him and the world. He was still visibly hurt by what had happened the other day, and for the first time since he had joined the crew, people saw him acting differently from his usual cheery self.

 

Lucas was the last to spot him, being too immersed in his own thoughts, but as soon as he did, he threw himself up from the chair he was sitting on. Lucas dashed towards Trip like a bolt of lightning, so fast Katie didn’t even have time to stop him before he was grabbing Trip by the front of his yellow jumper.

 

Trip had gone there with all the intention of resigning from the crew, but he didn’t expect he would have to confront Lucas in front of everyone.

 

Uselessly, he tried to pry Lucas’ fingers off of his hoodie, but it was to no avail. Lucas’ grip was too strong for him to get rid of it, and so he just conceded, looking up at Lucas with a glare, an expression not even Katie had ever seen on his face.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Lucas ignored Trip’s question and just pulled him a little closer, now reciprocating his glare when their eyes met.

 

“Where have you been? Why haven’t you been picking up my calls?”

 

Trip trembled slightly as Lucas’ voice rose even higher by the end of the second question. He seemed so afraid that Katie was about to intervene and push Lucas away, violently if necessary, but then what happened next shocked everyone.

 

As Lucas raised his hand, everyone thought he was going for a punch, Trip included, but instead of pain, what he felt was a hand gently cupping half of his face a bit towards the back of his head, and then lips pressing down on his. He looked at Lucas with a mix of fear and confusion, not knowing where to go or what to do. Lucas was _kissing_ him.

 

Lucas, for his part, his huffed out a puff of air and half smirked without pulling away from Trip. In the matter of a single second he started properly kissing him, eyelids falling shut and he decided to ignore the world around them. He had been far too afraid of doing this for the longest time, but now that he had thought he had lost Trip he found that this fear was irrational.

 

It took a little bit of time, but Trip eventually started kissing Lucas back. He was still confused by the turn of events, but at the same time he felt such a strong sense of happiness consuming him. Lucas was kissing him, and it was for real, not just one of Trip’s daydreams.

 

All around them people kept gaping, wide-eyed and completely dumbfounded. None of them could have predicted that, and despite their shock, they were scared of making any questions, or even any noise at all, in order not to spoil the moment.

 

“You can’t do that again, okay? I won’t let you go anywhere.” Lucas said as they finally parted from the kiss, and for the first time in forever, he smiled, broadly, baring his heart for everyone there to see, but most of all, for Trip to see how much he loved him.

 

**THE END.**

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked it, you know what to do, leave kudos and comments, that would make my day. Nkxjasnxkjnaskjxsa. Thank you for reading. <3


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